by AMY BARRATT

This is the week the summer festivals truly get laid to rest and the fall theatre season begins in earnest. The Harvest festival is officially over (except for one extended run—see Biss-ous, below) but the Centaur theatre is laying on a Thanksgiving feast starting tonight (Oct. 5) with the world premiere of Carmela’s Table. In this follow-up to last season’s Hellfire Pass, playwright Vittorio Rossi brings his hero Silvio home from Chicago to Ville Emard. Carmela’s Table is the second play in a promised trilogy, but we are assured it stands alone.

Next week, there are no fewer than four English theatre openings:

Gleams Theatre celebrates the centenary of Henrik Ibsen with a play by contemporary Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse. Mother and Child, directed by Constantin Sokolov and starring Ira Sokolova and David Wheaton, will be at the MainLine Theatre Oct. 12–15. SaBooge’s Every Day Above Ground, based on The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, plays those same dates at the Centaur under the Brave New Works banner. Whip Theatre’s evening of short pieces by Torontonian Jon Rannells (replacing their originally planned MacBeth) has been titled Peccadilloes. That’s at the Théâtre Ste-Catherine from Oct. 11–28. October 12–29 are the dates to mark on the calendar for Black Theatre Workshop’s production of Andrew Moodie’s The Lady Smith. That’s at the MAI.

Also coming up this month is a remount of ’Till We Meet Again, a musical by David Langlois, directed by Heather Markgraf-Lowe. It’s a musical modelled after a 1940s radio show, featuring the toe-tapping tunes of the war years. That’s Oct. 26–Nov. 12 at Concordia’s D.B. Clarke Theatre. Meanwhile, another musical takes the stage out at Markgraf-Lowe’s old stomping ground, Hudson Village Theatre. Piaf: Love Conquers All, by Roger Peace and starring Naomi Emmerson, plays there Oct. 26–29 only.

KISS KISS

Unwashed Grape Productions remains starry-eyed for British playwright Andrew Biss. The company which had a modest success last season with his Cuthbert’s Last Stand is currently presenting an evening of four one-acts by the clever fellow under the slightly annoying title Biss-ous. The pieces are generally well-paced and nicely acted, but this critic finds that a little Biss goes a long way. The queer playwright revels in referencing the literary canon: the evening’s first offering is titled ’Tis Pity He’s a Whore, although it bears no resemblance to the bloody 17th century tragedy ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore. With Biss, it’s too often wordplay for wordplay’s sake. And sometimes, he’s not as clever as he thinks he is. The “dick” and “pussy” jokes in the final piece, The Man Who Liked Dick, drag farce to its lowest, and least funny level—this despite the strenuous efforts of actors Laura Mitchell and Tim Hine.

Mitchell is excellent in the bleak monologue The Replica. Toma Weideman and Nathaniel Amranian also do a fine job with material that’s ultimately a little thin, first in ’Tis Pity and later in the ironically titled Cocktail Conversation—two boys in a bar exchange thoughts far removed from the sparkling Coward-esque repartee suggested by that title. And what is with those wigs?

The direction is fine, the sets and lighting effective, the ticket price reasonable. I look forward to seeing more from Unwashed Grape, but would humbly suggest it’s time to stop singing “You Send Me” to Andrew Biss and move on.

Biss-ous, to Oct. 8 at Théâtre Ste-Catherine
(264 Ste-Catherine E.), 284-3939

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